I Remember
by anthropomorphychan
Summary: Tenten remembers her first and last moments with her mother. Implied NxT. Wishing all mothers a Happy Mother's Day.


**I Remember**

Summary: Tenten remembers her first and last moments with her mother. Implied NxT. (Wishing all mothers a Happy Mother's Day.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

I remember as if only yesterday when I first met you. My chocolate brown orbs locking gazes with your mochaccino swirls.

_Maybe that's why I love coffee so much._

I remember the way your fringe lay plastered on your sweat soaked forehead due to the pain you had to endure giving birth to me but somehow … you still managed to keep your hair in those two buns you loved so dearly.

_Maybe that's why I put my hair up like yours._

I remember how you smiled at me and how your eyes lit up at seeing my naked pink body, knowing in your heart that I was yours, made by the love between you and my father.

_Maybe that's why I love the feeling of pink fabrics, so close to my skin, and if not that colour, then the colours that blend together to make that shade._

I remember your scent, the tangy smell of blood and salty sweat around you. I smelt the metallic fragrance which you carry about from handling weapons all day long. But although those scents were strong, they never managed to overpower that faint smell of lavender that lingers in your hair.

_Maybe that's why I love __**his **__smell so much. _

I remember your voice – along with my father's – when you uttered my name for the very first time. A flock of birds cut through the cloudy sky causing the day to suddenly brighten up. Fate? You asked. But my father just shook his head and smiled.

_Maybe that's why __**he **__always brightens up my day. _

I remember the first time you nursed me, how you were so afraid that I would suffocate under all that flesh but then grinned (that same grin I have now) when I lapped it all up like a starving kitten.

_Maybe that's why I love cats so much._

I remember how you used to cuddle me and how I adored being near you. I knew in my heart that you would always protect me being the overprotective mother you were. Your sense of justice never astounded me. Caring for the weaker or the younger had always been your aim.

_Maybe that's why I always feel compelled to look after Lee – and then later, Hinata. _

I remember the first time I held a kunai. That was the first day you started training again with father – after my birth that is. I was but a mere week old baby, being cradled on the lap of your brother. My godfather. Leaning against the bark of an old and worn oak, he nodded off to sleep leaving me unattended, unsupervised, letting my eyes wander off to see your deadly dance. As my dearest father deflected your shots, a stray kunai went whizzing by – heading straight for my uncle. The silver glint of the shiny metal attracted my attention. My eyes followed its journey as it spun in a deadly rotation, but before it made contact with us, instinct told me to raise my fragile hand, catching the lethal weapon on the hilt, a hairsbreadth away from your beloved brother's face. Father's jaw dropped in shocked but you waved it off as if it was nothing out of the ordinary telling him instead that it runs in the blood. My uncle didn't even wake up and you just resumed fighting.

_Maybe that's why I love weapons so much._

I remember when the war began. You had lost so much, your home, family, valued colleagues and mentors. But never, not once, had your smile faltered.

_Maybe that's why I smile a lot. I try so much to be just like you._

I remember when the ANBU came to tell you of father's death. You nodded politely at the message then thanked them for bringing back his body. Tears didn't threaten to spill nor did you look as if you were going to break down. You held your head high and maintained an impassive shinobi mask. You were the epitome shinobi. Strong – both physically and mentally.

_Maybe that's why I look up to __**him **__all the time. You two have so much in common._

I remember when father's family offered to take me from you but you declined in your diplomatic manner. They said that I would be in better hands with their whole clan so you could still continue to do your kunoichi duties without worrying about me. Of course they said you could live with them too and forget being a kunoichi. But once again, you said no. You promised to take care of me – and you did just that.

_Maybe that's why I always keep my promises. _

But the one thing I remember most vividly was that time …

I remember when ... when you never got up. You lay unmoving on top of me. Your face was pale and chalky. Death had finally landed his grubby claws at you. But as I stared at your face, a face I knew so well, I knew in my heart that you would never leave me and that you will always be at my side – forever and ever.

_Maybe that's why I just can't let __**him **__go. I knew in my heart that I should be by __**his **__side – forever and ever._

W-wait a minute, t-that can't be it. I know there's something I'm forgetting. Something before your life truly ebbed away.

Your lips.

They moved.

Words.

They formed in your lips.

As a 3 year old child lying under your body, as you protected me from what ought to be instantaneous death for me, I strained to hear your dying words.

Ah. I remember now. I remember what you told me. _"Don't ever forget who you are. Fly like the bird you were born to be. Don't hold back. Don't hold grudges. And if you can, help set others free. The bird belongs in the sky. Remember that. Always."_

_Maybe that's why I try my best to set **him** free for I know, **he** and I, were meant to be._

Of course, people say that I was far too young to remember these details. I was but a mere child, deluded from losing her parents at such a young age. They said that they were nothing but fictitious tales that came out of my wild imagination.

But I knew better than that.

I remember.

That is all there is to it.

* * *

**Wish your mothers a Happy Mothers Day. Remember, without them, you wouldn't even be here.**


End file.
